itself are not required because the necessary gadgets to expose the leaked
data cannot be controlled in a way which allows exploitation from malicious
user space or VM guests.
+
+Mitigation points
+-----------------
+
+1. Return to user space
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+ When transitioning from kernel to user space the CPU buffers are flushed
+ on affected CPUs when the mitigation is not disabled on the kernel
+ command line. The migitation is enabled through the static key
+ mds_user_clear.
+
+ The mitigation is invoked in prepare_exit_to_usermode() which covers
+ most of the kernel to user space transitions. There are a few exceptions
+ which are not invoking prepare_exit_to_usermode() on return to user
+ space. These exceptions use the paranoid exit code.
+
+ - Non Maskable Interrupt (NMI):
+
+ Access to sensible data like keys, credentials in the NMI context is
+ mostly theoretical: The CPU can do prefetching or execute a
+ misspeculated code path and thereby fetching data which might end up
+ leaking through a buffer.
+
+ But for mounting other attacks the kernel stack address of the task is
+ already valuable information. So in full mitigation mode, the NMI is
+ mitigated on the return from do_nmi() to provide almost complete
+ coverage.
+
+ - Double fault (#DF):
+
+ A double fault is usually fatal, but the ESPFIX workaround, which can
+ be triggered from user space through modify_ldt(2) is a recoverable
+ double fault. #DF uses the paranoid exit path, so explicit mitigation
+ in the double fault handler is required.
+
+ - Machine Check Exception (#MC):
+
+ Another corner case is a #MC which hits between the CPU buffer clear
+ invocation and the actual return to user. As this still is in kernel
+ space it takes the paranoid exit path which does not clear the CPU
+ buffers. So the #MC handler repopulates the buffers to some
+ extent. Machine checks are not reliably controllable and the window is
+ extremly small so mitigation would just tick a checkbox that this
+ theoretical corner case is covered. To keep the amount of special
+ cases small, ignore #MC.
+
+ - Debug Exception (#DB):
+
+ This takes the paranoid exit path only when the INT1 breakpoint is in
+ kernel space. #DB on a user space address takes the regular exit path,
+ so no extra mitigation required.
DECLARE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(switch_mm_cond_ibpb);
DECLARE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(switch_mm_always_ibpb);
+DECLARE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(mds_user_clear);
+
#include <asm/segment.h>
/**
asm volatile("verw %[ds]" : : [ds] "m" (ds) : "cc");
}
+/**
+ * mds_user_clear_cpu_buffers - Mitigation for MDS vulnerability
+ *
+ * Clear CPU buffers if the corresponding static key is enabled
+ */
+static inline void mds_user_clear_cpu_buffers(void)
+{
+ if (static_branch_likely(&mds_user_clear))
+ mds_clear_cpu_buffers();
+}
+
#endif /* __ASSEMBLY__ */
/*
#include <asm/alternative.h>
#include <asm/fpu/xstate.h>
#include <asm/trace/mpx.h>
+#include <asm/nospec-branch.h>
#include <asm/mpx.h>
#include <asm/vm86.h>
#include <asm/umip.h>
regs->ip = (unsigned long)general_protection;
regs->sp = (unsigned long)&gpregs->orig_ax;
+ /*
+ * This situation can be triggered by userspace via
+ * modify_ldt(2) and the return does not take the regular
+ * user space exit, so a CPU buffer clear is required when
+ * MDS mitigation is enabled.
+ */
+ mds_user_clear_cpu_buffers();
return;
}
#endif